USA’s 2014 World League Roster

Watch USA Volleyball take on Bulgaria in the FIVB World League on June 3 and 4 at 8 PM ET on Universal Sports.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Seven Olympians and three athletes who competed for their colleges in 2014 highlight the U.S. Men’s National Team preliminary roster for the 2014 FIVB World League.

The FIVB World League is the premier annual international men’s volleyball competition. Teams compete for six weekends of pool play in hopes of qualifying for the Final Round and a chance to win $1 million. This year, the U.S. Men, ranked No. 4 in the world, will play No. 2 Russia, No. 6 Bulgaria and No. 9 Serbia.

“I’m especially excited to have Reid and Sean available for World League,” U.S. Head Coach John Speraw (Los Angeles) said. “Neither was available last year. Their leadership will help us in very challenging environments in Eastern Europe. Both are playing very well. I feel good about where they are at right now.”

The other Olympians on the roster all competed in London in 2012: Matt Anderson (West Seneca, N.Y.), Russell Holmes (Fountain Valley, Calif.), Paul Lotman (Lakewood, Calif.) and David Smith (Saugus, Calif.).

The three collegians – USC’s Micah Christenson (Honolulu, Hawaii), BYU’s Taylor Sander (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Stanford’s James Shaw (Woodside, Calif.) – on the roster have all played internationally as part of the USA Volleyball High Performance Program. But only Christenson has played with the senior national team.

“There are some very good collegiate players that are going to start moving onto the roster,” Speraw said. “Both James and Taylor had great seasons. I wanted to get Taylor in the gym last summer, but it didn’t work out academically. And I think James has improved a great deal over last year.

“Micah proved last year that he can play on the senior team. I thought he did a great job at Grand Champions Cup.”

Sander played his senior season at BYU this year and led the team to the NCAA Men’s Division I-II semifinals. He was also named the AVCA Player of the Year. Shaw, who just completed his sophomore season at Stanford, helped the Cardinal to the NCAA championship match, where it fell to Loyola of Chicago. He was an AVCA first team all-American.

Christenson just completed his junior season at the University of Southern California and was also named an AVCA first team all-American.

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